By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
After the Princeton Little League made a commitment to playing 50/70 baseball three years ago, they saw the benefits in sustained participation numbers.
Players like playing with Major League Baseball rules that, unlike the 40/60 league rules, allow leading off and pick-offs. With the mound back 10-feet further, pitchers can better throw off-speed pitches, and the increased distance gives batters and fielders more time to react.
“We’re fully committed to playing 50/70 baseball,” said Jon Durbin, league president. “Our oldest group, instead of playing the traditional Little League, they all play 50/70 in-house. We’re fully committed to 50/70. That’s why we’ve enjoyed a lot of success in districts and sectionals.”
Winners of the Intermediate District 12 the last two years, Princeton is trying to add the Section 3 championship to its resume. The all-star baseball team moved within a win of the section crown when it stopped Ocean Township, 5-2, Sunday in a matchup of the only unbeatens left in the double-elimination tournament.
“It was huge to start out 3-0,” said Durbin, who manages the Princeton intermediate team. “That was a pivotal game.”
Ocean climbed back through the losers’ bracket to set up a finals matchup with Princeton scheduled for Thursday. A Princeton win would have given them the section title, while an Ocean win would set up a winner-take-all game 5:45 p.m. tonight at Princeton Little League Farmview Fields.
“The good news is that the two best teams made the section finals,” Durbin said. “We’re looking forward to facing Township’s two best pitchers. If we would not win, we will force them to at least use their two best pitchers. We would still have two out of our top three pitchers available.”
Jackson Rho, who struck out eight in 5Ð innings in the first win over Ocean, would be available for tonight. Durbin’s son, Teddy, was scheduled to start Thursday’s final with Ben Kioko poised to come on in relief. Kioko came on for Rho to strike out the final two batters with the go-ahead run on second base in the sixth inning against Ocean.
“Pitching and defense have always been our two greatest strengths,” Durbin said. “We’ve only made two or three errors all the way through districts and sectionals. We’ve made a number of great plays. Ben Amon, our catcher, against Middletown he threw out two runners stealing and picked a runner off second base. That was an extraordinary performance at this sized field. That’s an example of how we’ve played so far.
“The pitching is really strong. The good news is our hitting has been really good so far. That combination makes us tough to beat for the opponents.”
The Princeton team includes: Ben Petrone, Rho, Durbin, Kioko, Gautam Chawla, Judd Petrone, Amon, Nick Trenholm, Aidan Regan, Cameron Gray and Jake Renda. Assistant coaches to Durbin are Al Rho and Chris Trenholm.
“I think we have a very experienced team,” the elder Durbin said. “We have 12 guys on the roster, nine of them are 13-year-olds which are the oldest age you can be. Three are 12. All are legitimate all-stars. Five were on the team that won the district championship last year. Two more played in district when they were 11. They’ve set their sights to go as far as they can in the intermediate division. They started out dialed in and powered through districts.”
Princeton crushed Millstone-Roosevelt, 15-3, to win the district. With five teams in the section, Princeton had to play the extra game by luck of the draw. It wasn’t lucky for Metuchen, which Princeton handed a 13-0 loss in the first game of the section. Princeton stopped Middletown, 6-1, to set up a showdown with Ocean.
“That was a good tight game,” Durbin said. “That game could have gone either way. The difference was we wore their big pitcher down. By the time we got to the seventh, they were at their fourth pitcher. We jumped on him.”
Princeton got to Ocean’s ace for two runs and a 2-0 lead through five innings. Kioko singled home the first run of the game on a 2-2 pitch. In the third inning, Durbin was hit by a pitch, stole second and third and Rho singled him home. Kioko kept it at 2-2 with his strong relief appearance in the sixth inning, and in the seventh Princeton erupted for three more runs. Ben Petrone doubles and Durbin singled him home. After a couple of steals moved Durbin up, Rho knocked him in, and Chawla singled in Rho.
“They put a kid out on the mound who was throwing in the 70 mile-per-hour range which is fast,” Durbin said. “Even though we only scored two runs off him, we got him to the 65-pitch threshold and then chipped away to score three more runs. All the practice with the faster, more dynamic pitching got us ready. We didn’t score eight runs on him, but we got him out of the game faster than they would have anticipated.”
Princeton has ramped up its practices since it moved into sections. They practiced against live pitching from their own pitchers and Princeton Little League alumni, the coaches hit grounders harder to the infield and higher and deeper to the outfielders.
“Those are the little things that we’ve been doing,” Durbin said. “We’ve been amping it up with the higher level of play. It’s our third year participating in 50/70. We’ve been able to take the experiences from the past district and section level. We’ve been able to make adaptations.”
One change this year is the Princeton team went in hungrier. Last year, Durbin, who managed last year, felt his team was too confident going into the section after getting through a strong Bordentown team in districts. It only took one game in the sections to wake them up.
“The team that we played was a big all-13 year old team,” Durbin said. “They jumped on us and we were on our heels. We were fighting back up the rest of the tournament and made it to semifinals.”
Princeton has gone farther this year. They positioned themselves to achieve their section title goal. A win Thursday or Friday would send them to the state level.
“We knew this year, with all these kids coming back, we were arguably going to be the favorite team,” Durbin said. “We’ve had our eyes on winning a sectional title and hopefully a state championship.”
Princeton will be happy to take their show on the road. Winslow Township will host the state tournament that begins Wednesday. Princeton has been able to showcase its talent at home so far. It hosted the district and section tournaments.
“The great thing is it makes it much easier on the team,” Durbin said. “We’re just traveling locally. Ocean Township has a pretty substantial drive. I’m sure they’ll be driving 90 minutes. That catches up to you.
“Hosting builds a lot of league spirit. When we play, as long as the weather is good, we get a pretty good turnout. It’s good for the younger all-star players to see and it builds the league spirit or community spirit.”
Princeton has embraced the 50/70 game and seen its entry improve each year. It has already repeated as district champion and now it’s hoping to add the section title that eluded it last year.
“Princeton has taken a lead in Mercer County to encourage other Little League’s to play more 50/70,” Durbin said. “It’s our third year doing it. Our numbers are staying strong. And you get the excitement out of the fact we’ve done well.”
